


Something Else Altogether

by RayShippouUchiha



Series: Naruto Don't Gender Good [1]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Abuse, Alternate Universe, Angst, Be A Shame If Something Were To Happen To Them, Child Abuse, Child Neglect, Consequences of Poor Education, Gen, Gender Issues, Genderbending, Genderfluid Character, Genderfluid Uzumaki Naruto, Hurt, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Misgendering, Misunderstandings, Spoilers: Naruto's Gonna Happen To Them, That's A Nice Set Of Gender Norms You've Got There Konoha, accidental misgendering, poor education
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-05
Updated: 2020-02-05
Packaged: 2021-02-27 23:15:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,088
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22523869
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RayShippouUchiha/pseuds/RayShippouUchiha
Summary: Maybe just thinking about it isn't enough.Maybe there's some kind of secret to the entire thing.Because thanks to Old Man Hokage, Naruto knows it can be done.There should be a way Naruto can pick and choose between the two just like he’s been trying to do since he figured everything out.There should be a way for Naruto to be a boy or a girl whenever he wants to be, to be able to switch whenever he needs to or whenever it feels right.So that means that all Naruto has to do now is find out how that transformation is done and then he needs to master it.
Series: Naruto Don't Gender Good [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1620640
Comments: 97
Kudos: 1857
Collections: FTTN's Favorites





	Something Else Altogether

**Author's Note:**

> PLEASE READ BEFORE WE BEGIN:
> 
> This is going to be the jump point of a AU that contains a lot of accidental misgendering by Genderfuild!Naruto and then later on by various other characters as well. I will be updating the tags to future works in this series to include all the appropriate warnings.
> 
> Now on a meta level the misgendering is for comedic impact and/or as proof of Naruto’s neglect on a developmental/educational level about things like gender/sex/gender identity/etc.
> 
> It is in no way meant to be hurtful. If this sounds like something that will bother/trigger/or be generally harmful to you please do not proceed. Be kind to yourself and don't read something that might hurt you.
> 
> Purposeful misgendering in real life is not okay in the slightest. Even in this AU if corrected Naruto will absolutely adhere to the requested pronouns/addresss.
> 
> Disrespecting someones gender/gender identity/sexuality/etc is hurtful and cruel and I do not approve. I absolutely do not want to see any transphobic/genderfluid negativity/etc comments on this story because you will not find support for that kind of bigotry here.

_“I was not ladylike, nor was I manly. I was something else altogether. There were so many different ways to be beautiful.”_

_― Michael Cunningham_

_~~~_

The first time Naruto gets a hint about one of the Truths™ that will come to define his life he’s four years old and at the mercy of the matron of the orphanage.

“Filthy little creature,” Matron spits, long nailed hands rough and cruel as she tugs at his hair hard enough that Naruto has to bite his lip to keep from yelping.

He knows better by now than to say a word. Knows that crying only ever makes it _worse_.

“Only girls should wear their hair this long,” Matron sneers as the dull scissors hack and cut at Naruto’s thick golden hair. “It’s wasted on something like you.”

Naruto, unwilling to take another punishment for biting or fighting back, sits there, shoulders hunched and biting back tears, as his hair falls to the floor around him.

Later, locked in the closet that’s always been his room, Naruto will stare down at the fist full of long golden hair he’d managed to grab off of the floor before Matron had yanked him away.

It’s dusty and dirty now after being on the floor but Naruto doesn’t care.

He’d always liked his hair, had spent hours playing with it on days he wasn’t allowed out of his room.

It hadn’t been much but it had been _his_.

And now it’s gone.

All because only _girls_ should have long hair and Naruto isn’t a girl.

Or, at least, that’s the only reason he can think of.

Because that’s what Matron said and she would _know_.

Right?

~~~

The next clue Naruto gets comes a few weeks later.

Matron forces him out the door at dawn with two half smashed rice balls and a strict order not to come back until after dark.

He wanders through the village for a while, taking care to eat the rice balls as slow as he can, careful not to drop a single grain.

They’re gone way too soon for his liking but Naruto’s used to that yawning, gnawing feeling in his stomach that never really seems to go away.

He tries to ask the man with the shelf full of apples if he can have one but the man just screams at Naruto, swats at him with a broom and tells him to go away.

Naruto, shoulder aching from where the broom handle had hit him, scurries away as quick as he can.

He runs until he can’t anymore, runs until his shoulder stops hurting, and then he finds some bushes to crouch in. He sits there for the longest time, silent and folded in on himself and just _shakes_.

It’s well past dark by the time he manages to find his way back. He’s cold and tired and, above all else, _hungry_.

But when the Matron pulls him inside by the ear she doesn’t pull him to his stool in the corner where he normally eats.

Instead she tugs him directly towards his room.

Naruto knows he shouldn’t, knows he’ll be _punished_ , but he still protests.

“Food is for good boys,” Matron sneers, that same cruel expression on her face that she’d had when she’d cut his hair.

“I’mma boy,” Naruto protests. He _is_. He knows he is because he knows he’s not a _girl_ because _Matron said so_.

“No you’re not,” Matron hisses as she lets his ear go only to snatch him up by his arm, nails digging into the soft, scant flesh there hard enough that he feels as if she’s hit _bone_.

And then she tosses him into his room and slams the door shut.

~~~

By the time she lets Naruto out again he’s so hungry and thirsty that he’s taken to sucking on his shirt and he has to pee so bad his sides _hurt_.

He held it though, even if it made everything hurt worse, because he didn’t want a repeat of what happened the last time he couldn’t hold it long enough.

But instead of doing anything else, instead of letting him go to the bathroom or change clothes, Matron just hands Naruto two more squished rice balls and shoves him back out the door again.

~~~

Stomach cramping and breath coming short and choppy in his chest, Naruto tries to ask the woman with the sweet smelling meat on a stick if he can have one.

A skewer falls to the ground when she swings the hot ladle at him.

Naruto takes an arc of scalding sauce to the face but still manages to duck down and grab the skewer off the ground.

Shoulders hunched and one eye closed, Naruto tucks it close to his chest and then he turns and _runs_.

~~~

It takes a little while for his face to stop hurting, for him to be able to see out of that eye again.

It takes longer to wash the sauce off of his clothes and out of his choppy, spiky mess of hair.

Either way the river water is so _cold_.

Sitting shivering in his damp clothes on the edge of the bank, Naruto’s tempted to eat the skewer there and now while it’s still almost warm.

But then he thinks about his room and hearing time pass through the cracks in the door and not even having those two squashed rice balls to calm the gnawing, ripping feeling in his stomach.

Naruto forces himself to set the skewer aside instead.

~~~

This time, when Naruto gets back well after dark, he doesn’t say anything about food at all.

Instead he just ducks under Matron’s grasping hand and runs directly to his room, his bounty hidden in the folds of his shirt.

~~~

That becomes Naruto’s new pattern, two rice balls in the morning and then the rest of the day spent roaming around the village.

He spends a lot of time in the market where he can, occasionally, find forgotten or dropped pieces of food.

More often than not though all he has are those two rice balls.

Naruto breaks after a while though and tries to _take_ an apple from one of the stalls in the market.

He gets caught the first time and then the second. The bruises are … _bad_. They hurt longer and _deeper_ than anything he’s ever felt before. Even worse than the burns.

So Naruto watches and waits and _learns_.

He doesn’t get caught a third time.

~~~

His third clue comes a few weeks later when he’s hidden at the edge of the playground watching some of the other kids, kids he’s not allowed to get close to, play.

“Come on Shika-chan,” a tall woman with long brown hair tugs at a kid with hair pulled up into a spiky ponytail and shoulders slumped in a deep sigh. “Go play with Ino-chan and Choji-kun.”

Naruto blinks, attention switching across the playground where a kid with long blond hair that makes something in Naruto _ache,_ makes him think _girl_ , that’s a _girl_ , and one with short brown hair and chubby cheeks are both waving at _Shika-chan_.

“Can we play something else, Ino?” The chubby cheeked one, Choji Naruto guesses, asks the blond. “Flowers are for girls. Let’s play a boy game, like ninja tag.”

“Well I _am_ a girl,” Ino sniffs, tossing her long blond hair back over her shoulder. “And I wanna play with the flowers. If you don’t wanna play then me and Shika will!”

In the end, Naruto doesn’t get to see what they decide to play.

One of the other mothers sees him and chases him away, umbrella swinging at him as she screeches at him to leave.

She doesn’t actually hit him though.

He’s gotten pretty good at dodging.

~~~

Later, curled up in the dark of his room, Naruto’s mind twists and whirls as he makes sense of all these pieces of information he’s been given lately.

All the hints and clues and sneered information he’s managed to pick up on.

He thinks he’s got it figured out.

Mostly.

 _Maybe_.

~~~

The last clue he gets comes not too long after his afternoon in the park.

It’s just past dark and Naruto’s humming to himself as he happily goes about his newest hobby.

Digging through the trash out behind one of the many restaurants he’s not allowed in.

They throw away _a lot_ of food, food that Naruto can still eat even if some of it smells kind of bad or tastes funny. As long as it’s not too slimy he doesn’t even get sick afterwards anymore. It’s easier than stealing food from the market stalls is, even if he doesn’t really get caught by anyone who’s not wearing a headband anymore.

He’s half way through gnawing on a stuffed bun of some kind, when someone steps down off the roof above him and lands on the ground in front of him without even a whisper of sound.

Naruto immediately freezes, bun clutched in his hands.

For a long moment he just stares up at the white mask of the person in front of him.

The white mask looks kind of like a dog to Naruto, especially when it tilts to the side just a bit, the tall silver-ish hair above it swaying just a bit in the night breeze.

“What ... are you doing?” Mask asks, voice low and halting.

Naruto’s not really sure what to say or do because that’s normally something that’s _screamed_ at him not said so calmly.

“Food?” He finally half asks, half answers. It _hurts_ something deep inside of him but he holds the half eaten bun out towards Mask anyways. “Want some?”

“Why are you eating out of the trash?” Mask asks instead, crouching down until they’re closer to Naruto’s height. Naruto isn’t sure how he feels about that either. “Why not go home and eat?”

And that, at least, is a question Naruto knows how to answer.

“Food is for good boys.” Naruto recites easily. It is, after all, one of Matron’s favorite sayings.

“Are you not a good boy?” Mask asks lowly, one hand clenched around their knee so tightly Naruto’s pretty sure he hears the cloth tear just a bit.

“Matron says I’m not a boy,” Naruto shrugs as he pulls the bun back towards his chest. He’s not gonna let it go to waste if Mask doesn’t want it. “But no one wants this food, cause it’s _bad trash_ like me. So it’s okay if I take it.”

Mask growls, a low, rough, _vicious_ sound that startles Naruto just a bit before it abruptly cuts off.

“How about you come with me and we’ll get you some real food,” Mask offers, moving so that one hand is hanging, palm up in welcome, in Naruto’s direction.

“Can’t,” Naruto shakes his head, eyes trained on that hand. No one’s ever done that before either. “Gotta go back soon or I have to sleep outside again.”

That’s something else Matron has started doing, locking him out altogether if he’s even one minute late. At least Naruto’s gotten really good at telling and keeping time on his own.

“Don’t worry, Naruto,” Mask says, hand still outstretched, “you won’t be going back there ever again.”

Biting at his bottom lip, half eaten bun still clutched in one hand, Naruto debates.

He doesn’t _really_ want to go back to Matron and Mask hasn’t tried to hurt him yet ...

So, after a long moment of silent contemplation, Naruto finally reaches out and puts his hand in Mask’s.

~~~

Mask takes him to a stand that Naruto’s passed by a hundred times in the past but has never dared to try and get too close to.

It always smells so good though.

“Can’t,” Naruto tugs back on Mask’s hand.

“Why not?” Mask asks.

“Not allowed in rest-” Naruto scrunches his nose as his tongue trips over the word he can say in his head, “food places.”

“You’re allowed in this one,” Mask says and then tugs Naruto lightly forward.

And, much to Naruto’s surprise, _he is_.

~~~

Ramen is the best thing Naruto’s ever tasted. It’s hot and salty and so _good_. Even better than it always smelled in the past.

Good enough that he’d even agreed to trade another bowl to Mask for his half eaten bun.

It’s not long before he’s sitting over his fourth bowl, eyes heavy and head nodding.

He feels heavy and so _so_ sleepy.

Heavy and sleepy in a way he can’t _ever_ remember feeling before.

Then someone picks him up and Naruto startles, arms lashing out and body lurching back and _away_.

“It’s alright,” Mask’s voice is soft and low and their arms hold Naruto close to their chest. Beneath his ear Naruto can hear Mask’s heartbeat, strong and steady. It’s unlike anything he’s ever heard before. “Come on pup, I’m not gonna hurt you.”

It takes a moment but Naruto manages to calm down a bit, manages to unball his fists, to let the stinging in his palms fade as he finally remembers to breathe again.

“Better?” Mask asks.

All Naruto can do is nod.

Behind Mask Naruto can see the chef, Teuchi, staring at him with an expression Naruto’s never seen before.

“Hold on tight then,” Mask tells him.

And then, before Naruto can ask why, they’re in the air and then on top of one of the buildings.

For a moment Naruto’s breathless and then all he can do is _laugh_ , loud and delighted.

Mask pauses, seems to look down at him for a second, and then takes off moving again, darting from building to building.

Once or twice Mask even throws in a flip or four.

And, unable to bite it back, unable to _not_ , for the first time in his life Naruto just laughs and laughs and _laughs_.

And no one stops him.

~~~

He doesn’t remember falling asleep again but he does.

Lulled into rest by the foreign but comforting sound of a heart beating against his ear.

~~~

“-he last time,” a voice, rough but _familiar_ somehow, cuts through the haze of Naruto’s sleep.

“He was eating out of the _garbage_. Sensei’s so-,” Mask sounds angry and Naruto curls closer to them out of reflex, one hand coming up to pet lightly at the shoulder underneath his cheek.

He doesn’t want Mask to be angry. Not _ever_. Someone so _nice_ should never have to be angry.

“I’ll handle it,” the other voice cuts in. “But this cannot happen again. No contact. No exceptions. You know that.”

“ _Yes_ ,” Mask grits out. “ _Hokage-sama_.”

And then sleep reaches up and pulls Naruto back down.

~~~

When Naruto wakes up he’s in an unfamiliar room and in an unfamiliar bed.

But Mask is sitting on the edge of the bed, one hand wrapped loosely around Naruto’s ankle.

“This is your home now,” Mask says before Naruto can say anything. “No more Matron, no more eating garbage. You’ll live here instead. You’ll have money. For food and other things. You’ll be … better here.”

For a long moment Mask just sits there, face turned in Naruto’s direction.

And then, finally, Mask pats at Naruto’s ankle and then stands and heads towards the window.

That silver hair is still as tall as it was when they first met.

“Mask?” Naruto calls out, knees pulled up to his chest.

Mask doesn’t say anything but they do turn back in his direction.

“Your hair’s really tall,” Naruto blurts out. “Are you a boy or a girl?”

Mask laughs, a quick bark of sound, and then pauses and seems to consider.

“I’m a shinobi,” Mask finally answers. “Take care of yourself, pu-Naruto.”

And then, just as quickly as this entire thing had started, Mask is gone.

Naruto, alone now in this new place that’s supposed to be _his_ , just gnaws on his bottom lip and stares at the empty window sill until sleep takes him away again.

~~~

The Hokage, who is _really old_ , comes to see Naruto the next day.

The Hokage walks Naruto around the apartment he lives in now, hands him a thick envelope filled with money that _“should last you the month”_ , and then turns to leave.

“Hey,” Naruto calls out, “are you a boy or a girl?”

He wants to be _sure_.

“It’s been a long time since I was a boy,” Old Hokage person says, “but yes, Naruto, I’m male.”

“Is there a way to be a boy and a girl?” Naruto asks. He was going to ask Mask earlier but didn’t have a chance and he needs to _know_. “Or not a boy or a girl?”

Old Man Hokage blinks, brows arched high, and then laughs.

“Well a good transformation can let you be a lot of things, at least for a little while.” He huffs out, a small smile wrinkling his already weathered face. “Anything else should probably wait until you’re older.”

Eyes narrowed and mind _whirling_ Naruto nods, gives a slight wave, and watches the _old man_ leave.

~~~

Things are _finally_ falling into place for him.

Naruto’s pretty sure he’s finally connected the dots.

~~~

The Matron had said only _girls_ could have long hair and then she’d cut Naruto’s off.

So that _should_ have made Naruto a _boy_.

Only then she’d said good boys get food but even if Naruto was _always_ bad the real reason he wasn’t allowed any was because he wasn’t a _boy_ at all.

The kids at the park had said that the flowers were for _girls_ and ninja tag was a game for _boys_.

But Naruto really _really_ likes flowers, likes green and growing things, even the ones that aren’t food. And even if he’s never actually been allowed to play before, ninja tag has always looked really fun too.

So if Naruto likes both boy games and girl games then that, once again, leaves Naruto stuck somewhere in the middle.

And then there was Mask who had _tall hair_ and said they were a _shinobi_ instead of a boy or a girl.

Only Naruto knows that being a shinobi also means having a headband and Naruto doesn’t have one of those.

So that option doesn’t work for Naruto.

So, given all he’s learned, that means one of two things.

Either Naruto isn’t a boy _or_ a girl at all.

Or Naruto is, somehow, both a boy _and_ a girl at the same time which makes Naruto _something else altogether_.

Which should mean that Naruto gets to choose which to be at any given time.

Right?

~~~

Settled in the middle of the _new bed_ Naruto reaches up and runs trembling, curious fingers through thick, choppy golden spikes of hair.

It’s short right now, just like the hair of that boy from the park. And Matron had said that only girls had long hair.

So if Naruto is both a boy and a girl then that has to mean that, with such short hair, Naruto must currently be a _boy_.

So that means he’ll have to do his best to see what he can do about becoming a girl.

Naruto squeezes his eyes shut and concentrates as hard as he can.

He thinks about the two girliest things he knows about, things like flowers and long golden hair.

He thinks about becoming those things, about becoming a girl.

He thinks and thinks and _thinks_. 

But no matter how much time passes, and even when Naruto feels his entire body start to _buzz_ , his hair stays short and he stays a boy.

Naruto feels tears prick at the corners of his eyes because he wants to be a _girl_ right now. He really _really_ does.

He wants to know what it feels like because he doesn't _remember_ since he didn't really pay attention before Matron cut his hair.

But it’s not working and Naruto doesn’t know what to _do_.

And that’s when it hits him.

Maybe just thinking about it isn't enough.

Maybe there's some kind of secret to the entire thing.

Because thanks to Old Man Hokage, Naruto knows it _can_ be done.

There should be a way Naruto can pick and choose between the two just like he’s been trying to do since he figured everything out.

There should be a way for Naruto to be a boy or a girl whenever he wants to be, to be able to switch whenever he needs to or whenever it feels _right_.

So that means that all Naruto has to do now is find out how that _transformation_ is done and then he needs to _master it_.

~~~

Naruto realizes pretty quickly that he doesn't know, exactly, how or where to find Old Man Hokage at.

So that means that if he wants to get the information he needs as quickly as possible then he's going to have to do something that's never worked out really well for him in the past.

_He's going to have to ask someone for help._

"Lady?" Naruto stretches up on his toes as he waves a hand in the direction of the woman with the long brown hair and weird white eyes.

Normally he doesn't like to get adults attention too much but none of the kids will come near him. Besides she has a headband and this is _important_.

Beside the woman a man with short spiky hair and red triangle marks on his face abruptly snorts and breaks out into loud laughter.

" _Lady_?" Naruto asks again, standing carefully out of reach and trying not to sound as impatient as he feels. But it's _hard_.

"G-Go ahead, _Hiashi-chan_ , answer the kid," the spiky haired man says.

"Be _silent_ , Tsume," The woman huffs before turning her obviously displeased attention back towards Naruto. "What?"

"I need to see the Old Man Hokage," Naruto states as clearly and calmly as he can because he doesn't want to mess this up. "Where's he live?"

"Go to the tall red tower," Hiashi grits out as she turns and points towards the large red tower in the distance. "I doubt they'll allow you inside but that is where _Hokage-sama_ will most likely be."

"Thank you!" Naruto chirps happily because a part of him can't believe that asking someone actually _worked_. It never has in the past. "You're a real nice lady."

There's the sound of even more loud laughter behind him when he turns on his heel and dashes off but Naruto doesn't focus on it.

He's got more important things to do right now.

~~~

It takes a long time to get to and then _into_ the Tower but Naruto manages to do it.

It takes even longer to get passed the really mean woman at the desk.

But Naruto manages to do that too.

All that dodging in the market is really coming in handy.

When Naruto finally manages to get passed her he slams himself full body against the large wooden doors she'd tried to keep him away from so that they open just enough that he can tumble inside.

"Naruto," Old Man Hokage stares down at Naruto from behind a desk covered in mounds of papers, "what are you doing here?"

Naruto can't help the way his shoulders curl in on themselves just a bit because he's been so excited about learning the transformation that he'd managed to forget that people don't really like to see him.

"It's alright, Naruto," Old Man Hokage says after a long moment, waving away the sputtering woman standing in the doorway, "you're not in trouble. Just tell me what you need."

Gnawing on his lip for a moment Naruto finally puffs his cheeks out and rallies all of his courage.

"Teach me how to do the trans-for-ma-tion," Naruto says the word slowly, carefully, determined to say it clearly despite the way his tongue trips him up so often with bigger words. "I wanna learn it."

"Hm, can't say I was expecting that," Old Man Hokage hums, fiddling idly with his pipe. "But I suppose you are old enough to learn some things. Especially since you came all this way to ask. But on the other hand ... _hmm_ ..."

Naruto holds his breath as his stomach clenches in nervousness.

Because this is so _so_ important to him.

 _'Say yes,'_ Naruto pleads silently. _'Please say yes.'_

"Alright," Old Man Hokage finally nods. "I can only teach you the basics but if you work hard at it I'm sure you'll have it mastered in no time. Perhaps even before you attend the Academy."

Relieved and ecstatic Naruto grins, as wide and bright as he ever has.

 _Success_.

**Author's Note:**

> Remember to tell me what you think and to come see me and check out the Naruto Don't Gender Good tag for more information as to the nature of this AU:
> 
> http://rayshippouuchiha.tumblr.com/
> 
> Also, please don't point out the grammar issues with the series name. It's intentional.


End file.
